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wlan-ng package questions

I just installed the wlan-ng package from "http://amdg.no-ip.org/slackware/slackware-10.0/extra/linux-wlan-ng/" via the installpkg command. It went through with no errors. However, from here, Im unsure what Im supposed to be doing, since there is no documentation about it. I went to the wlan-ng homepage, but it only had info about compiling from scratch. Can anyone give me some sort of idea of what I should do next?

Use the readme file that comes with the wlan-ng source, can be viewed here: ftp://ftp.linux-wlan.org/pub/linux-wlan-ng/README. Just skip down to the section called: "Configuring:", and finishing the readme from there...

Andrew

Well, this is the part that applies to me:

Quote:

Configuring:

NOTE: linux-wlan-ng does not fully implement the wireless extensions
interface. This means that you can't use iwconfig and its kin to
set things up. Instead, read on!

As of linux-wlan-ng 0.1.16-pre5, the configuration and launch scripts have
been largely re-written. pcmcia/rc/hotplug now all use a common library
of routines and use the same set of configuration files.

Now, everything relevant exists in /etc/wlan/*

/etc/wlan/wlan.conf:

This file maps between wlan devices and network IDs, and contains
the names of all devices that should be initialized by the hotplug
and rc scripts.

/etc/wlan/wlancfg-*

These files are per-network configurations. This makes it easy to
switch between different SSIDs and the various settings they may
require, like WEP keys and whatnot.

The bare minimum you need to do to configure your system after a fresh driver
install:

0) Nothing whatsoever. out-of-the-box, the driver will attempt to associate
with any access point within range.

However, we highly recommend setting up a configuration specifically for
your network, using the following method:

0) This example assumes your network name/SSID is "MyHomeNetwork"
1) cp /etc/wlan/wlancfg-DEFAULT /etc/wlan/wlancfg-MyHomeNetwork
2) edit /etc/wlan/wlan.conf and change the SSID_wlan0 line to:
SSID_wlan0="MyHomeNetwork"
3) edit /etc/wlan/wlancfg-MyHomeNetwork, and make any necessary changes
necessary to support your network, such as WEP and whatnot.

------------------------------
FOR PCMCIA USERS:
A) Edit /etc/pcmcia/network.opts file to set up your IP settings.
Note: for a station, the SSID you're connecting to will be appended to the
current pcmcia scheme name. You can use this to have different
IP setups for different wireless LANs you connect to (e.g. home vs. work).

Note2: This only applies if you are using a stock pcmcia-cs
package. Most (if not all) distros use their own mechanisms for
configuring pcmcia network interfaces, and thus
/etc/pcmcia/network.opts may not even be present.

B) Restart pcmcia-cs with the command:

/etc/rc.d/init.d/pcmcia restart

C) Insert the card. For most cards, a solid LED indicates that the
SSID you specified was found, a bss was joined, and the firmware
completed the authenticate and associate processes.

D) Run ifconfig and route to determine if your IP and route settings are
listed as you wanted them. It's also a good idea to look at the file
/etc/resolv.conf to see if your nameserver address has been set up
correctly.

But Im still completely lost. Lets say Ive got an unencrypted wireless network in my house with the SSID "home". How the heck do I get my card to allow me to connect to this network? Im very bad with linux, so I dont understand what most of this means, and when it tells me to run the command /etc/rc.d/init.d/pcmcia restart, I dont even have that file...

I would recommend you to uninstall the RPM and compile wlan. I will walk you though it. The reason you may not have the pcmcia file is because the RPM may have been compiled for UBS or PCI...

Let me know if you want to compile it from source.

Andrew

Ok, that sounds great. Ive downloaded linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1pre21.tar.gz so far. In the README, it says,

Quote:

To build linux-wlan-ng you will need:
- Configured kernel source code for the kernel you are running.
Ideally, this will be the resulting tree after building your own
kernel. Configured means that you have at least run 'make config',
'make menuconfig', or 'make xconfig'. If you are trying to build
linux-wlan-ng for a previously existing kernel binary (one you did
not build yourself), look for help on the mailing lists because it
can be tricky. I always run against kernels I've built myself, so I'm
not much help in this area.
- The good David Leffler identified that if you are having difficulty
with *_netlink_* symbols, you may have a problem with 'make clean' in
the kernel tree. Do a 'make mrproper' followed by 'make config'
and the rest of the kernel build process. 'make mrproper' does
a more thorough cleaning of the kernel tree. For more info, look
for David's comments in the linux-wlan-user mailing list.
- If you are building a driver for a PCMCIA card, you will also need
the configured PCMCIA source code for the pcmcia_cs subsystem you
are currently running.

Ive got the default 2.6.7 kernel that comes with slackware 10 in the testing directory of CD2. Will this kernel do, or do I need to recompile the kernel before I go and try to build this driver?

This kernel will do, as long as you have the source, do you have that? Normaly the /usr/src/ directory holds them, but it may be on the CD2 in the directory.

Andrew

Ive got a /usr/src/2.4.26, but not a /usr/src/2.6.7. I think this is because I installed the kernel using the installpkg tool. On the slackware CD2 I found /testing/source/linux-2.6.x/linux-2.6.7.tar.bz2. Is this the source that I need? And if so, will it work if I put it into /usr/src and uncompress it?

EDIT: I went ahead and decompressed it, and it appears to be the same thing as the /usr/src/2.4.26 folder, so Im going to assume it is. I will go ahead and put the 2.6.7 source into /usr/src

That'll work... decompress it (I suggest /usr/src/2.6.7 because thats standard)...

Andrew

All set with that. I now have a /usr/src/2.6.7 directory

Have you unpacked the linux-wlan source?

Andrew

Yes, I uncompressed the wlan-ng source. Now Ive got a linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1pre21 folder sitting here.

OK your gonna want to cd in the wlan dir and run ./Configure

Than hit y [enter], n [Enter]. n [enter], n [Enter].

than type /usr/src/2.6.7 [Enter]
than keep pressing [Enter] until your back to the command line.

Andrew

I did exactly that, and got the following message:

Linux source tree /usr/src/linux is incomplete or missing!
The lernel header files are present, but not the full source code.
See the HOWTO for a list of FTP sites for current kernel sources.

Werid it shouldnt even look at /usr/src/linux it should look at /usr/src/2.6.7... Is there a syslink linux in the /usr/src/ dir? if so what dose it point to?

Andrew

Yes, I just made the linux syslink point to linux-2.6.7, which is my 2.6.7 source.